Deutsche Telekom announced a deal for its US subsidiary T-Mobile USA to offer Apple’s iPhone, although details were scarce.

In a presentation, it said that it is “excited to announce it has entered into an agreement with Apple to bring products to market together next year”. Details will be provided “closer to device launch”.

According to Bloomberg, the operator said that it had not been forced to make the same kind of commitments to get hold of the device that Sprint did, which had previously raised eyebrows among the financial community.

The deal means that T-Mobile USA is the last of the big four US operators to launch the iPhone.

Figures from research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech recently confirmed the iPhone has the biggest device share in the US, meaning T-Mobile was at a disadvantage by not offering it.

AT&T had an exclusive on the device for a long period of time, before a CDMA version was launched which supports the networks used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint.

T-Mobile has previously looked to lure iPhone customers with unlocked devices to its network.

T-Mobile USA is also planning to cut its handset subsidies, in order to reduce its customer acquisition costs and provide customers with more flexibility in how they upgrade devices.

The Wall Street Journal said that in addition to paying for the device up-front, customers will be able to pay on “instalment plans”, which will see device fees separated from service charges – under the subsidy model, all charges are bundled together.